Twenty-four again, might be 3 by 8, but it is clearly used as a double 12 in the priestly courses as appointed by David, and in the 24,000 who formed the monthly course of his general service (1 Chron. 27), having relation to the 12 tribes of Israel.
There appears to be a kind of repetition of 12, resembling one or two uses of 14, seemingly as a double 7. Through the feast of tabernacles, Num. 29 appoints the daily offering of 14 lambs. Solomon doubled the usual number of days for a feast at the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:6565And at that time Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, a great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. (1 Kings 8:65)), Hezekiah, similarly in 2 Chron. 30:2323And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness. (2 Chronicles 30:23). The day fixed for keeping the Passover was not the first of the month, though that month was now made to commence the year, but the lamb was to be taken on the 10th day (suggesting responsibility taken before God) and kept until the 14th day, 7x2. These uses of 14 carry a common thought of the perfection of 7 confirmed by repetition; it is so doubly attested.
The double 12 of the priestly courses seems thus to intimate a character of administration in a service of worship, which (rendered to God after He has established the nation under its King) became expressive of full return to Him on the part of those who had received everything at His hand.
In the arrangement of the genealogy of our Lord in Mat., we find under each division of the nation's history, 14 generations enumerated and this done with special intention, some names being left out though well known in the Old Testament. It is a repetition of 7 in each case, apparently asserting a perfection of arrangement in a matter of evidence which should carry conviction. A kindred idea is seen in 24, if regarded as a double 12. And this will apply to the 24 elders in the Rev. as well as to the priests in their courses under David.